Here and Out There
by WasJustAReader
Summary: Mulder and Scully reconnect after "Redux II."


**So I just got into _The X-Files_ this summer and I'm almost done with season five. This is just a little one shot I wrote after watching "Redux II." It will also be posted on AO3.**

"I hope I'm not intruding, Agent Mulder just told me the good news," Skinner said, stepping into the room and meeting Scully's small smile with one of his own.

"Mulder?" Scully's brow furrowed slightly in confusion as she muttered her partners name before she shook her head and greeted Skinner. "No, you're not intruding at all. It's good to see you, sir."

"It's good to see you, too, Agent Scully. I'm glad you're back on the path to health. Just take your time, listen to your doctors. We'll be glad to have you back at work, but only when the time is right. Don't do anything before you're ready."

Scully's mother chuckled. "That's what we've been telling her."

Scully rolled her eyes. "The doctors say I can go back to work in a week or two – depending on how I'm feeling." She paused, chewing her lower lip and glancing toward the door, before remembering herself. "Oh! Um, let me introduce you," she added, returning her gaze to Skinner. "Assistant Director Skinner, this is my mother, Margaret Scully, and my eldest brother, Bill Scully. And this is Father McCue," she said, gesturing at each person.

"Very nice to meet you, Mr. Skinner," Margaret Scully said, clasping his hand. "It's very nice of you to visit Dana."

As Bill and Father McCue exchanged pleasantries with the AD, Margaret noticed her daughter's eyes kept darting toward the door, neck craning to try to get a better look out the window.

"I didn't know he was still out there," Dana murmured as her mother squeezed her hand.

"I'll send him in behind us," Margaret said softly before turning back to the other occupants of the room and saying brightly "I could certainly use a cup of coffee. Would anyone like to join me?"

Skinner and Father McCue agreed quickly. Bill hesitated, but after a pointed look from his mother he nodded and moved toward the door.

"Dana, do you want me to bring you back anything? Maybe some peppermint tea for your stomach?" her mother asked.

"Sure, mom, tea would be fine."

* * *

Closing Dana's door behind her Mrs. Scully ushered the men away, assuring them she'd catch up in a moment.

Mulder, still sitting in the hall, had glanced up when Scully's door opened and now his bloodshot gaze was met by Margaret Scully's.

"She'd like to see you, you know," the older woman said quietly, resting a hand on Mulder's shoulder. "She thought you'd left."

Mulder's eyes widened ever so slightly at this information. He stuttered. "I – I just…"

Mrs. Scully smiled sadly and squeezed the man's shoulder. "I know. Go. Take your time. We're going for coffee." And with that she turned on her heel and followed the other men toward the elevators.

Taking a deep breath, Mulder scrubbed his hands across his face before picking up his jacket and standing, double checking that the stained photograph was still in the breast pocket.

He had opened the door halfway when he stopped, suddenly unsure. He stood frozen for a moment before Scully's voice brought him all the way into the room.

"Mulder?"

Releasing a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding, Mulder smiled and crossed the room to join his partner. She was still too pale. Too pale, and too thin. The circles under her eyes were darker than he'd ever seen them, but she wasn't going anywhere. And that was what really mattered. "Yeah, it's me. How are you?" he asked, sitting on the edge of the bed beside her.

Scully huffed a breath out between her lips. "I'm okay. Tired and sore, but okay. Better."

"Good."

They sat in silence for a while, Mulder staring out the window, Scully watching her partner's face for some sign that he was ready to talk.

Tired of waiting, Scully spoke first. "I thought you'd left," she said quietly, reaching for his hand resting on the blanket beside her.

Mulder sighed and twined their fingers together. "Your mom told me. I'm sorry. I didn't want to interrupt family time," he muttered, glancing quickly at her before resuming his stare out the window.

"So you sent Skinner in your stead?" Scully asked, eyebrows raised and lips twitching up in amused skepticism.

Still not meeting Scully's gaze, Mulder seemed to deflate and tried to pull his hand from her grasp. But she wouldn't let him.

"No. Mulder, _look_ at me."

A gentle tug on their clasped hands finally brought Mulder's head around.

"Scully, I'm sor-"

But she cut him off before he could finish.

"No. I want you to really look at me, and I want you to shut up and listen, okay?"

Surprised, Mulder nodded, eyes not leaving his partner's face.

"I know you're sorry. And there's nothing I can do about that aside from telling you as many times as I can that _this_ ," she gestured vaguely with her free hand, "is not your fault."

Mulder looked like he was about to protest, but Scully ignored him.

"This. Is. Not. Your. Fault. I made my choices, you made yours, and vile men made theirs. And here we are. Sure, things could have been different if so much hadn't happened. Hell, if we hadn't met. But we did, and now a life where I don't know you is not one that I want. Understand?"

Mulder nodded again, eyes shining with unshed tears.

"Mulder, I'm here. You're not getting rid of me," Scully murmured, blinking away tears of her own. "I'm not fine, but I'll be okay. We'll be okay." She paused, swiping angrily at an errant tear sliding down her cheek before asking "Right?" Her voice cracked on the question and with it her take-no-shit resolve. Crying openly now, she tugged Mulder forward and buried her face in his shoulder.

"Oh, Scully," Mulder replied softly, planting a kiss in her hair and rubbing soothing circles on her back. "I'm here, you're here. We'll go from there, okay? Together."

"Okay," she murmured into his shoulder.

"We'll figure it out."

Scully chuckled wetly and pulled back so she could meet her partner's eyes. "Right, because the truth is out there."

Mulder smiled and for the first time in what felt like years, it reached his eyes. "You bet your ass it is."


End file.
